JUAN GUIDO REVOKES FROM HIS POST OF PRESIDENT OF PARLIAMENT AND DECLARES UNREALIDIBLE

Two months later, Venezuela still faces the worst crisis in its history with a slow economy, a devalued currency and shortages.

Speaker of the Venezuelan Parliament Juan Guaido, also leader of the opposition, was dismissed Thursday from his post and will not be able to hold elective office for 15 years for alleged corruption, Venezuelan authorities said.

The Comptroller General of the Republic Elvis Amoroso, responsible for ensuring the transparency of the administration in Venezuela, has decided "to prohibit the exercise of any elective office to the citizen (Juan Guaido) for the maximum period provided for by law" he told state television at a press conference held Thursday in Caracas.

According to Elvis Amoroso, Juan Guaido does not justify, in his declarations of patrimony, certain expenses realized in Venezuela and abroad with funds coming from other countries. "He made more than 91 trips out of the territory for a cost higher than the 310 million bolivars (about 94,000 dollars at the current rate), without justifying the origin of these funds," explained the Controller.

Former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles of 2013 was sanctioned in the same way and declared ineligible. Consequence: he could not come later in 2018.

The rivalry between the two "presidents" sharpen: Maduro and his government accused Juan Guaido and his right-hand man, MP Roberto Marrero, arrested on March 21 by the intelligence services, to foment terrorist operations with the money of the state blocked by US sanctions.